A Few Interesting Details About What Marissa Mayer And Yahoo Are Up To

Reader interest in what Marissa Mayer is doing at Yahoo is insanely high.

Maybe it's because she was, for a long time, Google's most visible executive. Maybe it's because she's a feminist icon. Maybe it's because she's blonde and fashionable.

Probably it's all three reasons.

Because of this interest, we've been bugging our sources about Yahoo and Mayer nonstop for the past two months.

In the process, we've heard some confirmed and unconfirmed details which may not be worth their own post, but you might still find interesting:

Mayer's accessibility via email has startled, in a positive way, some people working with her. She responds quickly and thoroughly, we're told.

After new iPhones and free food, the next goodie Yahoo employees are getting is new laptops. This has been confirmed by multiple sources.

More than a few Yahoo employees worry that these new laptops and iPhones will also help Yahoo spy on its employees and crack down on leaks to Kara Swisher.

Mayer doesn't plan on hiring a COO anytime soon, though one source says "there's a stack of resumes from people dying to join the company from all over."

One rumor is that Mayer told the Yahoo board she's going to at least double revenue in three years.

Another rumor: Everyone says that Mayer was behind Google's $6 billion offer to buy Groupon in 2010, but we hear she was actually vehemently opposed to it.

Yahoo is aggressively recruiting a board member, a big name in the Valley. Reports say its Max Levchin. One rumor is that he's hesitating because he's a product person and Mayer is a product person, and there can be only one chef.

One consistent theme we've heard is that while Yahoo engineers are more motivated than ever, Yahoo's sales people are "adrift" under the Mayer regime. They don't feel like they have marching orders.